(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – This photo shows the Facebook’s Messenger Kids application on an iPhone in New York, Feb. 16, 2018. U.S. regulators say Facebook misled parents and failed to protect the privacy of children using its Messenger Kids app. The Federal Trade Commission says Facebook misrepresented the access it provided to app developers to private user data. As a result, the FTC on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 proposed sweeping changes to a 2020 privacy order with Facebook — now called Meta — that would prohibit it from profiting from data it collects on users under 18. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, file)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) Some senators in Pennsylvania are trying to push legislation to ban phones in Pennsylvania schools. According to Republican State senator Devlin Robinson, who represents parts of Allegheny County, confirms that when it comes to cell phones, “studies have shown that there is an epidemic, there’s an addiction” with them. Democratic State senator Vincent Hughes, who represents parts of Philadelphia, notes that counselors and psychologists consider mental health challenges increase when material on phones causes stress and anxiety. Both of these senators say that lower test scores and distraction are effects from using phones in the classroom. Robinson proclaims that there is a companion bill that is being introduced in the House of Representatives for Pennsylvania and he is hoping that this bill will be passed by the spring of 2026.